


Kakashi's Pack

by orphan_account



Category: Naruto
Genre: Child Neglect, Crack Written Seriously, Damn Kakashi needs a hug, Everybody Lives/Nobody Dies, Explicit use of Headcannons, Family bonds have been severed, Hatake Clan lives on, Hatake Wolves, I'll probably mention some gory shit, Kakashi's Childhood, Kid Kakashi, Kitsune Kakashi, Mentions of Suicide, Nanowrimo Project, PTSD, Unless like I need their death for a plot line sorry sakumo, Wolf Kakashi, Wolf Pack, panic disorder
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-09-01 00:09:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8599261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Kakashi was nearly an hour old when his mother died, six when his father killed himself. He was 13 when he watched his best friend get killed for his mistake, 14 when he killed the girl he loved and watched the last of his family die. These tragedies never left him, and as a 26 year old who hides in the legacies of a dying clan; he feels he doesn't deserve to live.OR: a series of somewhat corresponding oneshots and drabbles regarding the extreme overuse of (adorable) head cannons.





	1. Unexpected

**Author's Note:**

> !! Extreme use of head-Cannons !!!  
>  Some Elements of the Cannon Story-line have been changed because I want my stories to be somewhat plausable -- Also because Damn Kakashi needs a friend okay Rin and Obito have to be there for him

Kakashi was hardly a half hour old when his mother died.

The nurses in the room were all experienced Kunoichi, as most medics were, but none of them had seen the disaster coming.

The room was chaos for not a minute before the dull wave of acceptance washed over them - the only sound in the room being newborn's cries as everyone's thoughts raced through the last few hours of the laborious birth. Sakumo stood by his wife, her hand still in his from when she was not moments before gripping so hard it nearly broke his hand.

Sakumo and Ame had been married two years.They got married when they turned twenty. Ame was excited to have kids, being the last full-blooded female Hatake meant that she and Sakumo were the only two left that could give birth to a full blooded heir - without incest being included that is. Ame was born in the land of Fire, her hair a rich brown color, fitting for that of a red-wolf type. Sakumo was a child of the land of snow, but was raised in the land of fire after the attack on the wolves in his birth-land. The two met when they were young, and were hardly ever seen without the other. 

It was when they got married, after nearly two decades of knowing each other, that it began. Ame got pregnant relatively fast. Their honeymoon was cancelled, though it wasn't like they had planned one anyway. From then on it was nine months of the utter chaos that came with a new family. Lots of happiness and excitement but a hell of a lot of stress and all around confusion. Despite that, the newly weds planned on more kids to come after their first, of course. A few more months of pain, discovery and finding new things to love about each other as they built their home around themselves, preparing for the new baby. Nine months, Sakumo and Ame had nine months together, waiting, waiting and waiting. Nine months, and finally the day they were waiting for came - only to bring forward the worst possible outcome.

Tsunade held the infant in her arms, watching with numb eyes as Sakumo stood motionless in the doorway. The boy - named Kakashi, as Ame and Sakumo had previously planned, was already asleep, the medical chakra Tsunade had used on him already going to work, leaving him unaware of the world around him after taking his first breath. Light, wispy hair fluffed on his head, hiding a pair of round ears. The baby twitched his nose, his sleep already restless. The scent of death, she supposed, was too much for an infant of such wolflike heritage. She moved into the hallway, motioning for the nurse to remove the father as well. Sakumo didn't know what to do with himself, to be honest. He had gone home after another night in the hospital with his son, still mulling over the events of the previous day. Despite what happened, he didn't feel the need to grieve. He had known there were risks in the pregnancy - there always were; but complications of this severity were completely unexpected. Walking through his house, he set on making sure his son got what he needed. Kakashi; despite being the centre of attention in this whole ordeal, hadn't been introduced to Sakumo in any way or form. Sakumo knew Tsunade had spent hours talking to him, but He had no real memory of their interactions save for when she had led him out of the hospital with his newborn in tow. He spent the walk home following Tsunade by the hand - too busy to look up from studying the newborn in his other arm. The red bands that had already been inked onto the pale little cheeks - the traditional clan marks of Sakumo's kind. They were painlessly inked onto his skin thanks of one of the inuzuka nurses. Holding the baby was an odd feeling, but not unwelcome. Tsunade left him on the back porch, going back into the house to set up for the infant's first night only after checking that the dogs in the yard would be sufficient help for the other's mental state. It was a quiet morning, and Kakashi's first in the house he would soon learn to call home. In two weeks time he would be able to see clearly and hear - the Hatake clan was much closer to that of a wolf than many realized. Until then, the only way he would know what was happening was through his sense of smell and touch. For that time Sakumo would keep quiet and hold his son close, already working through his grief with the help of his friends.


	2. Village's Child

Kakashi has just turned three, and was well known around the village as the 'Hatake cub'; already able to throw several different sets of projectiles and weapons, from shuriken to even kitchen knives, with eerily perfect aim. Not only that, but Kakashi could already talk and hold conversations better than the average six year old, and his vocabulary continued to grow daily as read books written for those far beyond his age. At this point, Kakashi hardly ever relied on those around him, convinced he could do it all himself - not that the three year old ever succeeded in his self-reliant antics.  
Kakashi spent most of his time hanging out with the Hatake hounds, often hanging onto his father's main summon's collar or tail as they walked down the road. The little boy was popular with the little old village ladies - stopping their haggling with the market keepers to coo and coddle the adorable little boy, who would in turn hide his face in his scarf and crouch behind his fathers legs, but not without a deep blush in his ears and face.

The civilians of the village saw the new Hatake as an adorable child, dreaming of a future where he could be the hero, and yet the Shinobi of the village saw something completely different. A little boy, not even old enough to go to civilian school or attend the academy, cursed with the ever so rare natural talent in the ninja arts. The kid probably wouldn't even see it as a curse until it was far too late to back out, most likely decades later, when the realization of the lack of childhood would hit the man. A young ninja weren't always happy dreams and unrelenting ambition. Sometimes is was tiger moms forcing their sons to practice their kunai throwing until they dropped, their daughters to practicing chakra control and healing things until they couldn't feel their fingers. It was eight-year-olds who couldn't remember what real playing felt like, or twelve-year-olds whose intelligence went far beyond their years.

Shinobi in the village couldn't deny the adorable face of the mini-Sakumo when he spoke with them, it was something nobody in the right mind said no to. Kakashi was undeniably cute; everyone who knew Sakumo well enough knew in their hearts that the boy would be taught to use his adorable appearance against those around him. The thought that the little boy would one day grow up and be forced to kill and manipulate was one not many wanted to acknowledge. It was the underlying fact that although the boy was born of love and devotion between two people, was in the end born to be a tool of war. It was a thought nobody verbally acknowledged for fear of the elder Hatake's wrath, should he take offense to the comments. Sakumo was often 'interrogated about how he was raising his son when caught alone by his fellow peers, all of them worried for the boy's well being. A prodigy being raised in time of an upcoming war was bound to be dangerous for all parties involved. Much to the shinobi's relief, it was through these interrogations that it was revealed that Sakumo was truly doing everything in his power to keep his little cub from becoming a tool, a literal military hound for the city. People who had only met the boy once were often protective of his innocence - something that never went away for as long as they thought of him, always protecting, guarding and loving the cub.

In the end, Kakashi was a child of the village, loved and cared for by all who saw him. Academy students would often stop on their walks home to teach Kakashi a new trick they learned in school, staying until Kakashi had mastered it better their the teacher who had showed him. Market people would give the little boy treats for his pack of dogs - three of them now, all pups of his father's dogs, and watch as the toddler smiled and walked along his way. Friends of Sakumo would walk with him, always somewhat weary of all the possible nonexistent threats around the corner like a mother hen would. 

Kakashi wasn't only known for his adorable stature or his prodigious achievements - he was infamous for his intriguing personality. When confronted with a new person or something the toddler didn't like, Kakashi would often take defensive and act as a superior would to an underling. Talking down to them as one would to someone his age, ignoring them, the list goes on. Somehow, at those times, he didn't seem much like a toddler at all; until asked to talk. When Kakashi was asked to introduce himself to a new person, the boy did a complete 180; suddenly extremely shy and unable to control his chakra - often prompting the appearance of his Hatake wolf ears and tail to appear on his head. The toddler would fold his ears back and hide his tail between his legs, crouching behind his father's knees until the 'threat' went away. 

This quirk of his created quite the situation when he first met Minato - his uncle's student, who was also standing in as a big brother for the little toddler. 

Minato was 16 years old, had just been promoted to Jonin status. As a celebration, Jiraiya was taking him out to the local Ramen stand - a common gathering point for the students of his age, for a big party with all the other kids from Minato's academy class. Kushina, Minato's to be girlfriend, and Tsunade, Jiraiya's old teammate, were walking up the road to the restaurant when they spotted Jiraiya holding a kid - and smiling. Minato had stopped, too shocked to process what he was seeing - his teacher, a man who he had known for 4 years, a known pervert, a person often described as 'a strong, fearless ninja, who has a disgustingly vile habit of peeping on women in the bath house' was holding a kid in his arms. Kushina followed suit, both of them tripping over their feet and stuttering a few muffled curses on their way down. 

Tsunade sighed, looking at the kids on the ground behind her. 

"That's Jiraiya's Nephew, Kakashi Hatake. He's quite popular with the Jonin around town," She continued walking, "get your asses off the ground and hurry up."

The party continued on as it normally would, the Genin and newly promoted Jonin fawning over the adorable mess of a wolf cub that was Kakashi. The toddler, as he usually would, flaunted his intelligence, before falling into a shy mess behind his uncle's legs. Upon the discovery of the kitsune toddler, the teenagers attending the party had all but forgotten the reason for the celebration. Kakashi, though not very compliant at first, was held, pet. hugged and cooed over for near hours before falling asleep on Minato, and event that was photographed with more cameras than thought possible, when the night came to an end. 

In later years, It would come to be that Minato and Kakashi were as closer than most siblings were. Kakashi was commonly seen following Minato around, learning with his students. Kakashi trusted and loved Minato with all his heart, and that didn't take a genius to see.


	3. Color

Kakashi was four when Minato discovered the boy he had known for nearly two years didn't function like most other people in the village. 

Jiraiya and Sakumo had just returned from an overnight mission; having left Kakashi in Minato's care the day before. Sakumo and Jiraiya were asleep on the couch in the living room the following morning when Minato had finally managed to get out of bed without waking Kakashi - who somehow sneaked into bed beside him overnight, his green security blanket still curled in his hands.

In the kitchen, Minato was making eggs, toast, waffles and anything else he could find that would suffice for a big breakfast; planning on inviting Kushina over to eat with them. Sakumo waltzed into the kitchen, his ears and tail visible; a sure sign of how close he and Minato were as hatake hardly ever showed their true forms (or parts of it) unless they were extremely comfortable. Relaxed vibes practically radiated from his form, an odd occurrence after an overnight mission. 

"Morning!" Minato smiled, watching Sakumo's wolf-like ears atop his head flick in reply, "How'd the mission go?" 

"It was good, actually," Sakumo's tail swished from side to side, " Jiraiya and I had only finished half of the request before someone's Genin team came up and finished it for us - apparently they did it on accident, but it sufficed."

"What do you mean, finished the mission for you on accident?" Minato continued scrambling the eggs, nearly burning them listening to Sakumo's story. 

The older man laughed, "The mission was to clear out as many trees as possible from the hill above the Hokage cliff." 

The Hokage cliff - a huge overhanging wall of rock backing the village, had recently been overtaken with a ton of giant trees; making the faces on the rock look as if they had green broccoli like hair. The event had caused a hilarious outrage among the council, and many of the Shinobi with earth-related abilities had been asked to remove the trees as soon as they could, preferably overnight. 

"They had been fighting - the Genin that is, over who would have to stay overnight and finish their section of the forest they had been given, when one of them used an earthquake jutsu at the same time as Jiraiya used a summoning Jutsu. Jiraiya's Biggest summon's appeared in the middle of the earthquake and ended up crushing a ton of the trees, and we got to go early." Throughout the story, Sakumo's tail had been wagging; it was obviously a hilarious thing to watch the events play out. 

A comfortable silence fell over the two, Sakumo helping him make more drinks and food for the upcoming breakfast. The sun filtered through the windows, and right onto Jiraiya's face in the living room, resulting a huge bang echoing through the estate. The pair in the kitchen prepared for a screaming and ranting frog sage; waiting for him to come full charge into the kitchen, blaming the sunlight for his life problems.

Jiraiya did come into the kitchen, but no yelling was to be heard - a fact so surprising, Sakumo stopped what he was doing and ended up leaving the room, expecting a prank of some sort, perhaps. Kakashi sat on Jiraiya's shoulders, his head laying in his uncle's unruly hair, looking as if he were going to fall asleep. 

Their calm morning progressed until Kushina slipped in through the window, her chakra waking Kakashi up from his place at the corner of the table. His ears flat against his head, the little boy moved down from his chair and ran - no, scurried, rather, into the living room to escape the near screaming woman in her excitement to 'stuff something in her face for the first time in, like, a week' as she had narrated. Kushina, Minato, Jiraiya and Sakumo sat at the dining table, talking over the previous night's town-wide mission - as it turns out, Kushina had visited some of her friends at the tree removal mission last night as well. Conversation strayed to Kakashi and his schooling. As a six-year-old, he was attending the Academy, in a class full of kids who were a full two years older than him. It was his first year attending, and already he had been pulled to the top class- full of the oldest and the most-trained academy kids - somehow he still was top of the class. Sakumo was talking about how he thought the council's decision to make Kakashi complete the Academy was a waste of time; and Jiraiya nodded along with him. 

"But what about the colors thing Kakashi has going on?" Kushina's voice broke through the conversation, oddly loud.   
"What do you mean?" the three men leaned into the table, equally confused. 

"Well, when Kakashi was describing me in some sort of rhetorical question, he said my hair was like Minato's - and when I asked him to repeat himself, he said the color was similar!" She was fuming at this point, Kakashi's comment somehow getting on her nerves.

Minato took a piece of his hair and pulled it into his sight, comparing his hair to Kushina's, as if he needed to - his hair was a bright blonde, his Girlfriends a deep red.

Sakumo laughed, a warm smile on his face as he cut up his son's food, "We're Hatake wolves, its how it is."

#

In the end, his comment only added more confusion to Minato's melting pot of a brain. Hours later, Kakashi, Kushina and Minato were in the den, the two teenagers filling out paperwork as Kakashi colored with some crayons. 

"What're you drawing there, Kachi?" Kushina had yet again ignored her paperwork, trying to entertain herself with the kid. 

Kakashi shrugged, his ears flicking forward as he spoke - "A flower?" Kakashi put the crayon he was playing with down in favor of another red one across the table. "I dunno what it is yet, I'm not too sure." 

Kushina stared at the paper intently before picking it up and showing Minato. 

"Look, Minato." She peered over the paper and caught his eye, "Its a flower." He caught a slight undermining sarcastic tone in her voice - something Kakashi noticed as well, as his ears folded back near instantly. 

On the paper in her hands was a beautiful crayon flower, the childishly drawn yellow and Blue petals somehow made look pretty with Kakashi's clever coloring, the unsteady toddler-esque penmanship not hastily covered up. The difference was the stem of said flower, a bright orange-red color. 

A confused tilt of the head greeted him when he looked up at the boy across the table, as if mocking him in the silence of Minato's obvious confusion. Minato's mind went back to the conversation at breakfast and decided to test his 'theory'. 

"Kakashi, pick up all the green crayons on the table," Minato motioned to the pile of loose crayons on the table; noticing that there were actually no green crayons, thinking that Kakashi was probably messing up his colors, or maybe messing with him. 

Kakashi snorted, pointing to his pile of crayons, "Minato, they're aren't any green crayons in there, from what the look on your face is telling me. Im colorblind, I can't tell that many colors apart." 

Minato nearly choked at the blunt comment, "How can you just," he sputtered, "just, say that?!" 

His girlfriend leaned back onto the couch behind her, laughing quietly.   
"Minato, being colorblind isn't like other touchy disabilities, you dobe," she snorted through stifled giggles. Leave it to Minato to overthink someone's emotions. 

The night ended with Kakashi relaying the events to his father, who in response had half snorted his coffee, a copy of the picture with the correct colors, and the group all going home to their respective beds after Kakashi had nearly blacked out at the table.


	4. Pakkun

When Kakashi was accepted to the Konoha Ninja Academy, it was two weeks before his sixth birthday. His father, having just returned from a mission, was already waiting at home when he got the news. 

"Cub!" Sakumo rushed his son into a hug as he walked through the door, "I heard you were accepted to the academy!" 

Kakashi snorted in his father's arms, "Dad, you were there. You talked with the council about my schooling. You signed me up for it." Kakashi smiled and revealed his tail and ears, tilting his head, "Of course I would get in." 

Sakumo spun him around in excitement, "I have a surprise! A really great surprise!"

Leading his son through the hallway, he brought him to his study - a place not even his dogs were allowed. Kakashi stood before the door, watching as his father unlocked the intracate locking seal placed on the aged wood. The swirling designs all met in the center of a circular design, a hand print indented into the doorway in the very center. Sakumo placed his hand in the carving, a perfect fit; the swirls and designs lit up in a light silvery blue, stretching across the door frame. The doors slowly yet gracefully swung open, sakumo leading his son in by the hand.

The room was rather simple, if you ignored the enormous collection of ancient scrolls and books lining the walls, and the numerous weapons stored in rows on the ceiling looking as if they were wedged between the rafters. A large window lit the room up from the back of the room, the natural warmth of the sun giving the study a homey feeling. The window had several hidden seal scrolls plastered on the glass; hiding it from view outside. 

Sakumo stood at his desk, and pulled out a scroll nearly the size of Kakashi himself, laying it on the floor. A summons scroll. 

"Cme're, I want to show you this." He sat at the edge of the paper, watching as the heavy end unrolled it self. 

Signatures stretched along the entirity of the paper, continuing until it hit the wall with a light thump. 

Kakashi stared in awe, sitting next to his father as instructed. Sakumo placed his hand on the newest signature - obviously his own as it spelled out 'sa-ku-mo' in messy kanji with a handprint the size of his own underneath it. 

"This is a summoning scroll; as you probably have guessed," Sakumo brought kakashi's attention to the blade in his hand, "I am going to give you your first Ninken, Kakashi. Here's how you're gonna do it."

Kakashi pulled the blade down on his palm, ignoring the urge to hiss in pain. In the place next to his father's childhood signature, he wrote his name as neatly as he could, pressing his hand down against the scroll underneath it. Blood seeped into the aged paper, but didn't seem to stain or warp it. A poof of smoke appeared around his hand, but he stayed still.

A little black wolf pup licked the blood off his hand, the smoke clearing. 

"Good job Kachi." Kakashi could hear his father's smile grow as he pet the pup, "What are you gonna name him?" 

Kakashi took his clean hand and placed two fingers on the pup's nose, remembering a trick he read about in a summoning Jutsu book. In seconds, the wolf pup turned into a pug.

Sakumo sat in near shock as his son lifted the once-wolf-pug into his lap, pointedly showing off a trick he himself had never seen executed on the first try. A summon transformation jutsu, used for incognito missions to make summons less intimidating - a jutsu Sakumo had tried for years but never got the name of.

"His name's Pakkun." Kakashi looked up at his father, a sly grin painting his features, "Pakkun Hatake."


	5. Thunderstorm's Ironic Greeting

<p>Kakashi was six when he first truly experienced death and the feelings associated with it - unlike the death of his mother, one he didn't feel any emotional connections to nor remembered; this was one he convinced himself he would never forget. Pools of blood and the smell - oh the smell, a strong, irony scent. It Invaded had his nostrils and the scent didn't leave the cotton of his scarf even when he washed it for the 40th time. The feeling of the blood on his feet, in his clothes - the gunky, disgusting feeling. Kakashi wanted to forget it so so so badly, and yet he knew he couldn't. Deep deep down he knew there was no point to trying to forget them, as in his life he would only become more familiar with it.

He was six years old when he witnessed his father - a great, strong man, a person he loved with all his heart, who taught him everything he knew, commit suicide. From this man he called father, he learned to love and trust and forgive, to be protective yet lenient, to be caring and stern. From this man he called father, he learned a lesson he would never let slip from his memory - nothing lasts forever.

Sakumo had gone on a week long infiltration mission to the Mist country - a war zone, and an enemy of Konoha for years. He and his team - two people Sakumo had known since he was a young kid, his best friends, had been sent out to retrieve information stolen in a purge a few months back, a mission of great importance to Konoha. They left with orders to do anything necessary to retrieve and return the Info to the right place.

The Three man squad had walked out the city gates with purpose, and even with their Konoha headbands folded in their back pockets to hide their Identity, the will of fire lived strong in their eyes, as it did in every shinobi. Sakumo gave a smiling wave to Kakashi and Minato as the gates closed behind them, jumping off into the trees, out of sight not seconds later. It would be three weeks later when they heard from them again.

The men walked, stumbling every few paces and leaning on each other so much that it seemed they were once big blob of a person. Bleeding through the thin and overused bandages they wore, they stumbled through the front gates - a place returning shinobi never walked. Shinobi always left and returned for missions through back entrances, more secluded areas. When a Shinobi walked through the front gates, it was either a celebration or a tragedy. This was the latter; A medic squad being called to attention as the men nearly fainted upon the closing of the gates.

Chakra Exhaustion, two different paralysis poisons running through their blood. One of the men was delirious - likely drugged. A broken femur on one of the men, fighting a scream with every little touch to the leg. Sakumo's tail and ears were visible - a statement of just how hurt he was, too tired to even cover the usually secret appendages. One ear was nearly sliced in half, his hair matted with the thick, bubbly blood that still dripped from the head-wound.

All three of them were immediately brough to the hospital, leaving Tsunade and the nurses to work long into the night to keep them stable. On the Third's orders, a certain specialized ANBU Nin was called in to write out a mission report for the sake of efficiency. The ANBU stood with their hand on Sakumo's forehead, as he had been the mission captian, and began sorting through his memories. The mission report from Sakumo's memories gave the village a new point of view on the tragedy.

"As no information pertaining to the Goal of this mission, I state this mission as a failure. The team was ambushed when infiltrating a warehouse storing stolen scrolls from Konoha. Sakumo Hatake noticed the Hiding Mist-Nin just before his teammates were attacked, and instead of completing the mission, was distracted by his closeness to his childhood friends and opted to save his teammates from immanent death."

Maybe it was the way the emotionless ANBU narrated the mission. Maybe it was the way he had been so formal when talking about the death of team-mates, or the ferocious underlying tone of anger when talking about getting distracted by one's friendship. No matter what it was, the village had suddenly grown to hate the older Hatake. The Information was crucial to the Village's survival, and would likely start a war once the scrolls were decoded and the information revealed to the Mist Nin.   
For weeks, Shinobi who once loved Sakumo, who grew up learning the man's quirks, weaknesses and strengths, people who had trained with him and got stronger by his side, all grew to hate and nearly attack him every time they crossed paths. The citizens followed suit, refusing services to Sakumo and Kakashi alike. Even those who Sakumo risked the mission to save turned their backs on him in shame. Sakumo was on a mandatory three month leave to heal from his injuries - still unable to walk without wincing visibly, his ear still struggling to pick up sound with the same accuracy it once did.

Sakumo watched day by day as his son came home scowling, watched in guilt and shame at how the townspeople glared and outright yelled at the both of them. He watched and inwardly encouraged Kakashi to hide his clan-marks, the deep, thick red stripes that proclaimed him as the Hatake heir unseen under the black half-mask. He watched as his six year old son shouldered the pain he himself was struggling with. He felt guilt in his heart, an undying shame in his soul as he let his son be pulled down with him. He cursed himself; it was all his fault. It was only time before Kakashi's prodigious and potential was forgotten and his son was tossed to the same criminal depths Sakumo was currently drowning in.

#

Sakumo took his tanto - a thin, sharp and strong blade marred with years in the Hatake Clan, and set up the traditional Seppuku drawings on the floor. A suicide technique used by shinobi and Samurai who have fallen from grace. Sakumo was in his study, wearing a yukata and a traditional Hatake haori, his Tanto in hand. He knelled over the drawing on the floor - a symbolic drawing of the samurai's disgrace before death. It was said that if it were to be covered completely in the blood of the disgraced it meant forgiveness was due. Sakumo looked at the circular drawing below him, a meter in diameter. If he truly was to be forgiven for his sin, it seems he may not last long enough to know the answer himself. Removing the blade from the sheath, he exhaled, his chakra relaxed in a haze around him. Two hands, strong on the handle. It felt wrong. His fingers melded backwards onto the indents in the fiber- this blade was backwards, not meant to be held like this. In the moments before he pushed the blade through his skin, he regretted having to leave his son alone in such an unforgiving world. Regretted being incompetent, unable to protect the last of his clan, the last of his wife. He curled over atop the blade, his forehead soaked in the blood that had already seeped into the floorboards. The dull, numb waves of pain washed over him, and he watched in a hazy fear as the door to his study was ripped open, a small, familiar pair of feet standing in the door frame. The scent of his son wafted into his nose. Thunder erupted from outside.   
How ironic," He thought, "A thunderstorm greets the death of another tragic ninja."

#

Kakashi, wet with rain and mud as he walked in the door, had hardly been able to take off his shoes before his body froze and he quickly scanned the surroundings with his chakra. Every cell of his being were burning on edge, screaming 'something in wrong'. He pricked his ears and slipped through the house - unable to identify the odd feeling. To alleviate the sinking feeling in his gut, he followed the odd smell that was seemingly radiating from upstairs. Halfway down the hall, he recognized the smell to be that of fresh blood. Sometimes, his dad would come home covered in someone else's blood. Kakashi was used to that, being a shinobi's son, it was commonplace. The smell of this blood was too fresh and too familiar to be anything but his fathers.His soggy sandals forgotten in the front hallway, Kakashi ran down the hall and up the stairs, the metallic scent filling his nostrils.

He ripped open the door to his Father's study - something he had never been allowed to touch before, something he shouldn't have been able to do. The mere fact that he could even touch the door confirmed the burning sensation in his heart - his father would always scold him if he stepped within three paces. Now standing in the doorway at the back of his house, Kakashi froze in shock.

On the floor before him, crouched over the tanto blade, was his father. Thunder filled his ears, echoing from outside and he watched in numb horror as his father's eyes slid closed and he fell into a lump on the floor.  
Lightning lit up the room, and out of some morbid curiosity, Kakashi started counting.

He walked up to the body, forcing himself to hold his tail out from between his legs in an attempt to hide the shaking.

Two seconds. The smell of blood in the room permeated his mask, leaving Kakashi to breathe in the sharp scent of death.

Three seconds, and the only sound Kakashi could hear was the sound of his heart beating too fast for it to be remotely healthy, in his opinion.

"I should ask Minato about that."

Four seconds. The blood had seeped in between Kakashi's toes. Sticky and warm.

Five seconds. His eyes stung and burned as he stared at the body, not dad, just a body. Each time he blinked, the lump in his throat seemed to grow.

Six seconds, Kakashi had completed an analysis on the death.

Seven seconds, and he could feel Minato's erratic Chakra signature approaching.

Eight seconds, and the clan wolves appeared in the room, circling around him; protecting and blocking the body from his sight.

Nine seconds. Jiraiya's footsteps rushing through the house sounded like thunder, but Kakashi knew better and trained his ears outside, still counting.

Ten seconds, Sakumo's pack had pulled him to his feet, away from the blood.

Eleven seconds, he was in Jiraiya's arms, Minato close behind.

Twelve seconds and the Thunder greeted Kakashi and his father's wolves as he was carried out of the house.

#

A few years later, when Kakashi's element affinity was revealed, only Minato really understood his insistence in learning mastering the other elements as well.</p>

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment if you noticed any horrible grammar or spelling mistakes.  
> This is the first fan fiction I've officially posted, though it is far from done. The Chapters and short and sometimes sentences are rushed, but it will all be finished in time. Thanks for reading!


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